Bootleg Booze Food Inspectors

Contaminated food, undercooked food, out-of-date food,

all posing risks to our health,

and causing 20,000 of us a week to fall ill.

It's clear we need protection -

we need people who can stop the bad stuff getting into the food chain.

We need people who have the power to close businesses down

if they don't stick to the rules.

We have those people - they're called the Food Inspectors.

Throughout this series, we'll be with them

as they leave no cupboard unopened...

You've got insect legs in there.

..and no shelf unchecked.

You haven't got a pest problem, have you?

We'll be there as they take on the businesses that flout the rules.

They've never got a good word for you.

And we'll be revealing the invisible risks you run every time you eat out.

You're exposing your customers to food poisoning.

Let's go.

This week, the battle with the bottle

as the inspectors crack down on fake booze.

You can see why organised criminals are into that more than drugs.

Coming to a store near you - the drink that can make you blind.

This has been made with industrial chemicals.

Having second thoughts about a liquid lunch? Wait till you see the solids!

It looks like you've got separation going on in there.

There's some contamination.

'I'll be in the lab as we go bacteria busting,

'and, is your kitchen sink cleaner than a toilet?

'Our very own Food Inspector finds out.'

-Are you ready?

-I'm ready, go on.

Now, we hear a lot about Britain's drink problem.

From weekend binges in our towns and cities

to the growing quantities we're tending to drink at home.

But while the problem's all too real,

the alcohol increasingly isn't.

In some parts of the UK, a quarter of retail outlets

were found to be selling counterfeit booze,

so it's clear this problem now goes way beyond

the pub car park or car boot sale.

But, could you tell the difference

between counterfeit booze and the real thing?

These guys can tell the difference.

-It's their job to sniff out the bootleg booze...

-It's counterfeit.

..And the hooky hooch.

It's counterfeit.

Jon and Andy's patch in Brent, North London,

is being flooded with counterfeit alcohol.

You're selling fake wine to the public.

Jon tends to have quite a good smell for a big seize,

and we go out for a couple of visits, routine visits,

and he'll come back with a storage lock-up full of counterfeit goods,

so we don't like him leaving the office too many times a month

because the paperwork is quite big.

The counterfeit trade costs the UK taxpayer

an estimated £1.2 billion in lost duty.

But that's nothing. The fakes are made with chemicals

that can cause vomiting, blindness, even death.

Council spending cuts mean there's less money to pay for inspectors.

Counterfeiting is a billion pound, trillion pound industry.

There's so much money in it,

you can see why organised criminals are into that more than drugs.

It's faster, quicker, easier money.

Blossom Hill and Jacob's Creek are two of Britain's best selling wines.

They're also a favourite for fraudsters.

Now, look at these two bottles and see if you can tell which is fake.

I certainly can't,

'which is why I'm hitting the road with the experts.'

So, why is it this place that you've chosen?

We've had a bit of intelligence that they've got some counterfeit wine,

so we're going to follow up on that information and see what we find.

-Well, in you pop.

-OK.

-We'll be following hard behind.

-Brilliant.

My name's Andy, I'm from Trading Standards, Brent Council.

This is my colleague, Jon.

We're doing a standard inspection today of your shop.

What we'll do, we'll have a quick look around.

The criminals have developed sophisticated printing technology,

making it difficult for ordinary shoppers to spot a fake.

We're aware that Jacobs Creek at the moment is being counterfeited,

and, unfortunately,

there seems to be some in this shop. I've just picked up this one.

We've got "Enjoy Jacob's Creek Responsibily" -

it's got an extra "i".

The website should be "Drinkaware" - the spelling is "Drinkoware".

If you're shopping for wine, that's the first thing to look out for.

The fakes are often made abroad, and labels may have "spilling mistacks".

I'd take that off the shelf and have no idea whatsoever.

This is a good example -

tell me at quick glance which one of these is counterfeit.

This one, because of the extra "i".

-Exactly.

-That's the only reason I would know, otherwise...

-The label is slightly embossed too.

-Yeah, look at that.

Oh, yeah! There's another tip then.

If you suspect your bottle is bogus,

a wonky, badly printed or creased label could be the giveaway.

And here are some other ways to spot a fake.

Compare your bottle to ones that appear identical on the shelf. Check the fill levels.

If a bottle contains more or less than the others, don't buy it.

If a bottle is significantly cheaper, take a closer look.

Lastly, the taste test.

If, once you've bought it, your wine has an unusual flavour,

stop drinking it and contact Trading Standards as quick as you like.

Do you know where you got these bottles?

I just go to Cash & Carry.

You're saying you got them from Cash & Carry? Have you got receipts?

Yes, yes we have.

You have receipts?

We keep them all for my accountant to do the VAT.

It seems as if the shop owner here is really none the wiser

about where these bottles came from.

He thinks he got them from the Cash & Carry, all at the same time,

so the good ones and the hooky ones at the same time.

'He later tells me the same thing.'

I don't know, really I don't.

The first time I heard about this bad wine.

'But, however it got here,

'simply having it on the premises spells trouble.'

I'm 99% certain that that wine didn't come from a Cash & Carry, OK?

A reputable one that you mentioned earlier,

I don't think they would have supplied that.

It's a criminal offence to have this wine in your possession, OK?

A serious criminal offence, OK?

Not only is it a copy of the original,

also we don't know what's in it.

My general advice is if anyone walks in the shop

and tries to sell you a similar product,

-they are the people to avoid.

-Yes.

It's a strong warning, but this is serious stuff.

While fake booze is making criminals rich,

it can also make us seriously ill.

Hooky wine!

I'll be revealing some of the terrifying ingredients

in some of Britain's seized counterfeit bottles a little later.

As well as being able to enter shops,

the inspectors can go into hotels, take-aways and restaurants.

It's all part of their aim to prevent us getting food poisoning,

but how would a typical family kitchen

stand up to the same professional hygiene checks?

There are many hidden dangers in the way we prepare and cook our food.

So, we're going to put it to the test.

I've been invited round for a good old fashioned family supper

by single mum Jenny Caminada.

She knows I'm coming, but she doesn't know I've brought along a friend -

our very own Food Inspector Ben Milligan.

'Ben has inspected hundreds of restaurant kitchens,

'but never a domestic one.

'Jenny is a busy working mum.

'I wonder how she'll react to me turning up with a Food Inspector.'

-Hello!

-Hello!

-Hello.

-Are you Jenny?

-I am indeed.

-I'm Chris, how are you?

-I'm fine, nice to meet you.

Come on out. I know you've invited us round for supper...

-Nice to meet you, I'm Ben.

-Yes...

I've a bit of a surprise for you.

-OK, right.

-He's a Food Inspector.

I've got a surprise too - I can't cook. No, I'm joking.

Jenny can cook really - just one of the many things to juggle,

being a typical super mum, but is she doing it right?

This is where it's all happening. Welcome to the kitchen.

You look remarkably calm. You didn't panic when we arrived.

No, with three children and five cats nothing throws me any more.

Three children and five cats! I want you to stop.

I don't want you doing any cleaning or anything,

because I want to make sure...

That it is as it is.

-I want to be sure you're feeding your children hygienically...

-OK.

-..and safely.

-Go for it.

'As Jenny puts her pasta in the oven,

'Ben gets to work with his hygiene swabs,

'and he takes samples from everything -

'including the kitchen sink.

'It's often one of the dirtiest places in the home.

'The reason? The seemingly innocent kitchen sponge.'

Do you want gloves?

No, no, that's all right.

'A used sponge can contain hundreds of thousands of bacteria

'per square inch, including salmonella and E.coli.

'Its moist "micro-crevices", or holes, are a trap for germs,

'and are difficult to disinfect.

'Now, by using Ben's ATP monitor, we're about to find out

'just how clean Jenny's sink really is.'

Are you ready?

I'm ready for it, go on then.

'A reading above 1,000 could mean a potential risk of food poisoning.'

Oh! That's 1,547.

So, if that was a work surface in a proper restaurant,

what would you be saying?

There's a lot of ifs and buts,

but if it was a work surface, even if it was a work surface in here,

I'd say you're not sanitising it properly.

How dirty is a kitchen sink?

There's quite a famous stat that says your sink can be as dirty as your toilet seat.

I would qualify that though -

it depends on the sink and the toilet seat!

'So, you know what's coming next. In the interest of scientific endeavour,

'I insist on Ben swabbing this toilet,

'and guess what?

'It really is cleaner than the kitchen sink!

'Next on the list, the chopping board.

'Jenny's well within the hygiene limit, as is her microwave,

'another common breeding ground for germs.

'So, that's 2-1 to Jenny -

'not bad, especially when she has to look after and feed three kids

'who are all experts at quality control.'

Looks good. What's it like, Dylan?

-It's nice.

-Yeah?

Well, my mum doesn't cook a lot,

but when she does, it's not the best, but it's not the worst either.

-Dylan, that was very diplomatically put.

-Yeah.

(Is she a messy cook?)

I've seen the kitchen, I go in there every day.

Right, and is it tidy?

Tidier than my room.

'Back in the kitchen, it looks like Mum's good run is about to end.

'Ben's inspecting the fridge, and it's not the out-of-date food that's giving him nightmares -

'it's the potential for cross contamination.'

We've got chicken fillets at the bottom with a tub of hummus in it!

Right.

Well, you don't cook hummus, you put it in your sandwiches.

You touch the pot, then you touch your sandwiches.

You can't put tubs on top of open, raw packets of meat.

So, Food Inspector Ben, what did you think?

First of all, we had a good look at your sink.

The sponges...

I know, they're horrible.

I think I'll have to introduce you to an invention called kitchen roll.

I hope you're not using your sponges to do your surfaces, are you?

-I do.

-You do?

-Yes.

-OK, because those sponges...

Are a breeding ground for bacteria.

I stick them in the dishwasher every few days.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

We didn't even test the sponge themselves -

we tested the sink under the sponge. That was bad enough,

so I shudder to think what the sponge must have been like.

Your stock control is the pits...

-Yes!

-..to be quite frank,

-and that lot is condemned - it's in the bin.

-Yes.

-Anything else that needs to go?

-The sponges.

Do you want to get the sponges?

OK. Bye-bye sponges.

Yeah. Good riddance.

See you later.

There we are. Done.

Come on, be honest. Does Jenny's kitchen ring any bells with you?

If so, you need to remember the following...

DRAMATIC MUSIC

Food inspectors are like hygiene sheriffs...a bit...

upholding and enforcing the law.

But, with so many people flouting it,

it can sometimes feel like the Wild West. Hence the music.

Stick with it!

In Surrey, there's a woman who's seen a fistful of food trouble.

I've recently had to shut down my local because of cockroaches.

When I got there, the kitchen had quite a lot of cockroaches in,

so they shut the kitchen down.

My mum and dad liked to go in there,

so they were quite annoyed that I'd shut their local down as well.

It's not just food cowboys Lisa deals with. Today, it's her Indian.

24 hours ago, she carried out a routine inspection,

and made a discovery that's put it in danger of closure, too.

-Hello.

-Hi, are you all right?

I'm good. I've come to do your revisit today

because there wasn't any hot water yesterday.

Yes.

I show you the number now to whom I have telephoned yesterday.

He said he's coming on Friday morning...

-Right.

-..to see whether it is repairable or not.

Oh, dear!

No hot water till Friday at the earliest.

What about the customers who want to wash their hands,

or the staff who must wash theirs?

They knew there was a problem and they've not fixed it.

How are you washing your hands at the moment,

because you've got no hot water?

We use the hot water in the kettles.

In the kettles. You don't pour hot water onto your hands, do you?

They make the hot water there

and mix up with the cold water with jugs.

Right. So how do they do all their washing up at the moment?

-Hot water in there and in there.

-So where's the plug for the sink?

See the plug?

So they've not been using the system long,

because they had to root around for the plug.

No, no, this plug is there.

Without hot, running water, Lisa's not convinced the staff

can keep their hands properly clean, but she'll soon find out for sure.

The results of the swabs she's taken will be back in a week.

I'd like to put CCTV in there and be able to watch them all the time

and have a button and say, "Please, please go and wash your hands."

It's a good idea, but this is not Rogue Traders.

Lisa will just have to wait for the lab tests to reveal what's really going on here.

In North London, Trading Standards officers Jon and Andy are showing me

just how bad London's fake alcohol problem has become.

What are we looking at here?

This is about 20 seizures we've done over a couple-of-month period.

Is this getting worse, what we're seeing here, or is it tailing off?

It doesn't seem to be dropping off. There's still plenty out there, as we've seen.

And presumably when we've got a period of economic difficulty,

people are looking for a bargain, people are looking to make money.

-This is an attractive way to do it.

-Most definitely.

People are a bit strapped for cash,

they will look for the cheaper option,

the counterfeiters know that and will happily oblige by making it.

Those counterfeiters don't just operate in the capital.

It seems like they're everywhere.

Trading Standards officers are so concerned by their expansion

that they've joined forces with police and customs on a nationwide crackdown.

One of the hotspots is 150 miles from here

in that direction - Staffordshire.

It's in this semi-rural county that Trading Standards are launching

the UK's biggest ever counterfeit alcohol sting.

Help comes from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs,

tip-offs come from the most unusual sources,

and leadership comes from Brian.

Good morning, everybody.

We had some intelligence in Newcastle.

Part of it came from two alcoholics,

who said that when they drink the cheap vodka from a particular shop,

it was burning their throat.

As a result of that, we did a number of warrants on retail premises

and found various counterfeit products on sale.

In today's operation, 12 officers will cover 60 square miles,

pinpointing and seizing fake vodka.

Even some of those involved can't believe

this potentially lethal spirit is now so widespread in the sticks.

To be honest, us in the counties have sat there while, you know,

some of the more metropolitan areas have had issues

and we've sat there, I think fair to say slightly smugly, going,

"Oh, well, it's an urban issue."

With these illicit spirits, we're so concerned

about both the prevalence of the spirits on the retail market

and also the public health issue with people drinking these spirits.

We've pulled out all the stops on this one.

With the health of the public in real danger,

all shops have to be checked

and the officers have special tools that you and I don't.

There's many things we can check, but one of them is if the stamp illuminates or not.

You see, look.

-It goes like a greeny colour.

-Oh, right.

Do you get approached at all?

-By..?

-By white van men, particularly...

No, never have done, actually.

-Thanks very much.

-That's us done, thank you. Cheers.

Although this first store is free of fakes, it seems that others aren't.

Throughout the day, Amanda and her colleagues make a number of seizures.

I noticed the labels weren't quite on straight,

so I picked up a bottle and looked at it,

and I could see bits floating inside and that made me think

there is something definitely wrong with that product.

Analysis takes place here,

at Staffordshire Trading Standards' own lab.

By breaking down the alcohol,

officers can identify bi-products of the distillation process.

The results from these seized bottles confirm their suspicions.

The vodka is fake and dangerous.

The major consideration was that some of the samples

have got methanol in it.

Methanol is an industrial chemical

traditionally used to make antifreeze.

It can cause damage to organs, to the optic nerves,

it can even kill you.

-How much methanol did you find in that?

-About half a teaspoonful.

And how much methanol does it take to make you blind?

-Two.

-Two teaspoonfuls.

So the amount of methanol it takes to damage you is very small.

And if you were drinking this on a constant basis,

day in, day out, the effect adds up.

Methanol's not the only nasty thing you can find?

What we found in this particular product is chloroform.

Chloroform - because I only know that from James Bond.

Knock-out drops, effectively.

The issue with chloroform is it is not allowed in food at all.

This has been made with industrial chemicals,

not food-graded chemicals.

It's just possibly a by-product or whatever of the process

that chloroform has ended up in the finished product.

Do you think we're on the brink of a disaster here?

Because you've got dangerous drinks

and they seem to be widely available!

The people who can stop this are the retailers.

They need to say no to White Van Man.

They need to say "No, we don't want any more off you."

But as we'll see later, White Van Man is doing a roaring trade

with this fake and potentially harmful product,

and the chance of you buying it and drinking it

is increasing all the time.

Well, dodgy alcohol may be making news now,

but some food and drink scares have been with us for years.

Usually they involve a single bad ingredient,

and often it's this one...

This is Escherichia Coli -

or E.coli, as he's known to his mates.

Now, this one is always in the headlines.

Let's have a look under the microscope.

As you can see, it looks like a rod-shaped group of bacteria.

This is a highly infectious bacteria and can be really dangerous.

So where does E.coli come from?

Well, it's found in the intestines of humans and animals

and of course, you can find that in their faeces,

which can contaminate water supplies, it can contaminate soil.

Last summer in the UK,

74 people were hospitalised

when they ate leeks and potatoes from contaminated soil.

It only takes a few cells to make you ill

and the symptoms are...

..and this can happen after three or four days

and it can last up to two weeks.

Now, the real danger of E.coli is that it can cause

serious life-threatening infections

to the more vulnerable members of society.

So how do we avoid E.coli? Well, it's all about hygiene.

You don't need to teach Lisa Wareham about E.coli.

Food inspectors know everything about it already.

In fact, Lisa has a thing about this particular bug -

and a way with words.

In the industry, we call it "from turd to tongue",

because, obviously, you know, the bacteria comes from your faeces

and then, you know, through poor hygiene,

it then gets spread on to your food until it reaches your tongue.

Lovely(!) Now, remember India Finest,

the restaurant in Redhill where the hot water was off?

Lisa took some hygiene swabs, sent them for analysis

and the results are now in - and guess which bug has shown up?

I've come back today because,

you know the samples that I'd taken the other day?

-Yes.

-They failed - quite badly, really.

They had E.coli on them. Probably came down to poor hand-washing.

In the kitchen, the manager has had the boiler fixed - sort of.

Their water's gone cold.

If hands aren't being washed thoroughly,

E.coli could be being spread across the kitchen.

Using her environmental monitor, Lisa tests

the surfaces that are being touched frequently.

So hand-contact points should really be round about 30.

That's quite high, really, for a hand-contact point,

because obviously you're touching that then you're preparing salad,

and that's how you can transfer

some of the bacteria from one area to another.

Despite Lisa's demonstration, the manager is confident

that no bacteria can survive the restaurant's cooking process.

You have to be cautious about E.coli but one thing I should say -

a lot of people died of eating English food because of E.coli.

No Indian has died with E.coli. We cook to very high temperatures.

OK, then - what about food that stays cold?

So with the yogurt, do you use this once every week? Because on here...

He comes every Wednesday.

Because it says, "Once opened, consume within three days",

so once you've opened that, you should really...

It alters. One week, it's finished and then...

According to the manufacturer's instructions,

you have to use it within three days.

You've got separation going on in there, and you can see there's some contamination.

It go off automatically. You don't have to...

-Yeah, but you can't see...

-You can.

-...some bacteria.

Oh, no, bacteria you can't see,

but you can see when it's gone off, it's swollen.

You couldn't see that that other one had E.coli in.

It's a tough call for Lisa. The E.coli count isn't high enough

to justify her taking action against the restaurant.

Instead, she leaves them with some cleaning recommendations

and decides to return in one month to gather more hygiene samples -

anonymously.

As for the manager, he seems satisfied

with things the way they are.

I think I'm the cleanest restaurant in the whole of the area.

I can guarantee it. The health people may not - but I can.

Back in north London, the team cracking down on fake alcohol

are on another operation - but this time, with a secret weapon.

You might be wondering why Andy, Jon and myself

are just sitting in a van right now.

It's because the guys have deployed Undercover Ali.

Ali's our secret undercover chap who we send in ahead of us

just to have a look around and reconnoitre.

He's expert in spotting trademark-infringing items.

So the point being that you guys eventually get recognised.

We've had jobs where we'll come in the front door

and you can hear stuff getting moved around in the back.

We are recognised, unfortunately.

So Undercover Ali. I mean, we will never get to meet him.

-Nope.

-I mean, we will, but you won't. That's the point.

Which is a shame, because he's a nice guy.

'Based on Undercover Ali's intel, we're heading to a store in Kilburn.

'I now have the knowledge needed to spot a fake

'and I'm determined to use it.

'Jon and Andy start on the wine.

'Me? I'm going for the harder stuff.'

I think I've discovered a bottle of hooky Smirnoff,

because this is Smirnoff Registered Trademark -

"Preminim" vodka and it contains only a trace of "kabohydrate".

There could be absolutely anything in there, anything.

Literally, every time you buy a bottle of spirits

or a bottle of alcohol, check every word for the spelling,

then you might have an idea. Otherwise, no chance.

Jon and Andy's department sees nearly 1,000 bottles

of counterfeit alcohol over a 12-month period.

During the crackdown across central England,

more than 3,000 bottles were seized from about 700 premises.

So far, no arrests have been made for manufacturing or distribution

and nobody knows how many bottles remain on our shelves.

So keep them peeled.

Certainly made me think twice about having a curry and a bottle of wine.

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Join us next week as we reveal more of those food dangers

-and how to avoid them. See you then.

-Bye.

-What do you mean?

-No, well...

Next time, I'll be down on the farm

with the animal health team, checking the cows.

Another mystery cow.

And I'll be taking a surprise guest to check out the food

at a Hollywood party in High Wycombe.

-Alarm bells starting to ring?

-Some little ones in the background.

-OK.

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